1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless telecommunications networks, and more particularly, to a wireless telecommunications network operable to collect and report data relating to the status or use of a telecommunications device in near real-time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many subscribers of wireless telecommunications network services desire to obtain information regarding the use of their wireless phones for billing and other purposes. Similarly, many persons or organizations that allow others to use their phones or that pay for wireless phone services for others, such as parents who allow their children to use their phones and companies that provide work phones to their employees, desire to obtain information regarding when, where, and for what purpose the phones are being used.
Unfortunately, however, existing wireless networks only provide such information periodically in historical reports, typically in billing reports at the end of each month. Moreover, the information that is provided typically only includes the originating and/or destination phone numbers and the length of calls but does not include other desirable information such as location tracking for the phone and other status information.
The present invention solves the above-described problems and provides a distinct advance in the art of wireless telecommunications networks. More particularly, the present invention provides a wireless telecommunications network that is operable to collect and report data relating to the status and use of a wireless phone or other telecommunications device in near real-time in response to data collection requests made by subscribers or other authorized persons.
The wireless telecommunications network of the present invention broadly includes: a base transceiver station operable for transmitting wireless communications to and receiving wireless communications from at least one telecommunications device served by the network; a mobile switching center coupled with the base transceiver station and operable for switching and coordinating communications between the base transceiver station and other network components and for launching call routing queries; and a service control point coupled with the mobile switching center and operable for receiving the call routing queries and for providing routing instructions to the mobile switching center in response to the call routing queries.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the service control point is operable for receiving a data collection request for data relating to the use or status of a telecommunications device, for collecting data from other components of the network in accordance with the data collection request, and for allowing access to the data collected in substantially real-time. In preferred forms, the network also includes a web interface coupled with the service control point and accessible via the internet. The web interface is operable for receiving data collection requests from authorized persons via the internet and for forwarding the data collection request to the service control point. The network may also be provided with a data collection device and a data reporting device coupled with the SCP and accessible via the internet for collecting the requested data and organizing the data in predefined reports.
The data collection and reporting functions of the present invention can be implemented to provide numerous new network reporting services. For example, the network can collect and report information relating to the current location of a particular phone in the network on a call-by-call basis. A subscriber or other authorized person can use this service to periodically receive location tracking information for a phone or to issue a data request to the network via the internet or other medium to determine the current location of their phone on a near real-time basis. Moreover, such information can be collected and reported by the network even if calls are not made by the phone.
The network can also collect and report information relating to the status or use of a phone such as when a phone moves into or out of a particular service area, how long the phone is in a particular service area, the originating phone number of calls received by the phone, the destination phone numbers of calls made by the phone, etc. A subscriber or other authorized person can use this service to determine, for example, when a phone first registers with a provider in a certain area so that they know that the phone and the person operating it has safely arrived in the area. Similarly, a subscriber can be immediately notified when a phone is used to dial a particular number such as 911 so that they can take appropriate action.
Additionally, the network of the present invention can be used to track the location of devices attached to certain assets such as vehicles, railroad cars, packages, etc. without calls being made from the devices. The network can even be used to collect and report various user inputted responses to announcements sent to a phone such as in tele-voting or market sampling without asking the location of the phone because the network can immediately determine the location of the phone.